


Watch Where You Step

by bracus09



Series: ABC SEAL Team Whump [3]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Clay Spenser Whump, Gen, Misplaced Clay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22811146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bracus09/pseuds/bracus09
Summary: How does a simple recon mission go so wrong?
Series: ABC SEAL Team Whump [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1611082
Comments: 45
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here is "C" of the ABC SEAL Team Whump.
> 
> Won't leave you guessing this time. It is C for Compartment Syndrome.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Is it just me or do these missions seem easy?” Sonny Quinn asked, right before he bit into his sandwich. 

“Fuck. Gross. What is this?” He grimaced, peeking into his sandwich. “MUSTARD!” He exclaimed, giving Clay Spenser a look of disbelief.

“Oh, shut up.” Trent looked at him. “It’s a condiment.”

Clay chuckled, “Sorry, Sonny. I assumed everyone liked mustard when I made the sandwiches.”

“Well, I HATE it!” He said, disgustedly.

Trent Sawyer, Sonny Quinn and Clay Spenser were in the cafeteria in J-Bad, while the other three of Bravo were out on a surveillance op in a nearby city.

“Sonny just wipe the mustard off,” Trent told him, rolling his eyes.

“You can’t wipe it off! It’s sunk down in the bread!” He replied as he held the mustard covered slice of bread for his teammate to see.

“Well, I only put mustard on one piece of bread, so just don’t eat that piece.” Clay offered.

Looking a bit skeptical, he pushed the offensive slice of bread to the corner of his tray and folded his sandwich in half. He took a small bite of the remainder of his sandwich, and convinced that no mustard taste lingered, he finished it off.

A moment later, Sonny thoughtfully stated, “Why are we here running these missions? They don’t need a Tier One team for this shit.”

“Are you complaining that the missions are easy?” asked Trent with an eyebrow raised.

Sonny ignored him and continued. “Seriously, we haven’t been shot at once.”

Clay looked at him and nodded, “Yeah, a different SEAL team could have done these missions.”

“Seriously?” Trent muttered. “We aren’t getting shot at. Why are you two complaining?”

“You can’t disagree that you are bored.” Sonny said, gleefully. “I know that I’m ready for some action.”

“Yeah, these ops can go to a different team.” Clay added with a smile.

“Agreed.” Sonny nodded with him. “These are so boring; it makes my trigger finger itchy.”

“Now, that’s not good.” Clay stated with a smirk.

“Well, I guess we could be doing something more productive,” Trent admitted, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

“You can join us with doing something fun,” said Sonny. “It’ll probably involve too much alcohol and poor judgement.”

“By the way, do you ever do anything except whine like a little bitch?” Clay asked.

“Sometimes, I whine like a BIG bitch.” Sonny replied with a smirk.

They all sat around the table, chuckling at the banter between them. Suddenly, a frown crossed Sonny’s face. “Do you think the other three are getting any action?” he asked, with an undercurrent of concern in his voice.

Clay laughed. “They are probably just as bored as us. Except they have to sit in a scooby van with no AC and MREs.”

At this point, Trent threw caution to the wind and went along with the two knuckleheads. “Yeah, they are all going to come back with swamp ass and sand in places that doesn’t need exfoliated.” 

“Yep,” Clay agreed. He poked Sonny in the ribs with a fork, causing him to cry out and swipe at the offending object. “So, are you guys done eating? We should probably pack up and get back to TOC.”

“Yeah, but do we have to report to TOC?” Sonny whined.

“Do we really need to? All we are doing is paperwork.” Trent also questioned.

“Come on, guys… how am I being the voice of reason? We need to get back to monitor their recon op.” Clay said.

“Knowing our luck, the Good Idea Fairies will be sending us out on another recon op.” Sonny complained as he got up to clean up his area.

“You have better not have jinxed us,” Clay scowled at Sonny. “At least in TOC we aren’t stuck in the scooby van.”

“Point.” Trent said as he started towards the door.

“Let’s get out here and see if TOC has anything for us to do.” Clay said, trying to sound stern. “And maybe we can get out of any other work.”

They got back to TOC and started to work on reports while they were monitoring the rest of Bravo’s radio communications. Trent and Clay were sitting and typing their after-action reports and Sonny was pouring them each a cup of coffee. Sitting next to the coffee pot was a plate of cookies. He scooped up the three mugs of coffees and grabbed everyone a cookie to go with it.

Sitting the mugs in front of their recipients, he handed each of them a cookie, and then continued his own report. Almost simultaneously, they each took a bite of cookie. 

“Ugh! These are awful!” Sonny said.

“Gross!” exclaimed Trent, grimacing.

“Sonny, these are horrible!” Clay agreed.

At the same time, the three of them jumped up and hurried to the sink, spitting out their mouthfuls of cookies.

“Fuck! Those were bad!” Sonny laughed.

“Whoever made them obviously did something wrong.” Trent said as he tried to wash the taste out of his mouth with the coffee.

“Hey! Let’s keep them and give them to the guys!” Clay said excitedly. “I want pictures of their faces when they take a bite of them.” He laughed.

“It would be priceless.” Sonny agreed, chuckling.

“You guys are terrible!” Trent laughed. “You know Jason will have you running hills forever.”

Clay and Sonny just laughed. “Totally worth it.”

Suddenly, Blackburn poked his head in, eyeing the three laughing members of Bravo.

“I don’t want to know do I?” Blackburn asked. Receiving three headshakes with shit-eating grins, Blackburn decided ignorance is bliss.

“We have two more recon ops to complete.” Blackburn stated. “Trent and Sonny, you will be going to a nearby village to surveillance a possibly HVT house. He is supposed to be arriving at the house in the next ten to twelve hours. Take a scooby van and radio in anything that seems suspicious or if the HVT arrives.” 

Trent and Sonny nodded and started to clean up their areas and head out to get ready.

Blackburn turned to Clay. “You will be taking a van and surveillance a village. There are rumors that this village is turning into a hotbed for known terrorists. Your job is to stay far enough away to observe who is coming and going. You are to not engage in any way. You are going to be far enough away that they won’t even see the glint of sunlight off your scope. You hear me?”

“Copy sir.” Clay nodded and stood up to get prepared for his solo up.

***

It was a beautiful afternoon, clear and not too hot for the desert. Clay was on the move to a second surveillance location. He had parked his van about a one click from his first location and completed the mile hike to that location. He was there for a few hours when he noticed that there were many comings and goings on a different side of the village. Clay had radio Havoc, explained the situation and got the approval to move about another half click to a different spot where he could get better pictures of what was going on. Noting that the new location would put him further in the hills, he let Havoc know that his every three-hour radio check-in might be spotty.

Clay looked at the terrain on the map and found the perfect spot to create a different surveillance nest. He couldn’t see any civilization in the hills he was walking in, and once he reaches his new nest, he will be able to observe this side of the village without any issues.

Clay took in the scenery all around him. Nothing but brown hills with bushes all around and a few trees. If this was any place in the United States, it would be an amazing place to hike. Unfortunately, he was far from the good ole US of A.

Clay carefully maneuvered through the craggy expanse of land. He was taking his time, keeping a close eye on the path he was taking to his new nest. Soon, however, the path disappeared under brush. Clay was barely able to distinguish the trail he was on as it led into a bushier than normal area in a valley before he had to climb a small hill to his desired location. Small scraggly trees and brush had almost taken the trail completely over.

He looked up, then glanced at his watch, and then proceeded on the obviously forgotten path to his chosen nest area. Not too far into the slightly wooded brush area, it became obvious that the underbrush was thick. Perfect for hiding while he surveillances the village. 

With the case in one hand that housed the high-powered camera to see the distance to the village, Clay continued through the area. He had only gone a short distance when he had stepped on what appeared to be ground, but was a layer of dirt covering a large, wooden board. Clay heard the creak and felt the boards beneath him give way. He cried out as he felt himself dropping down into a deep hole, dropping the camera case that was in his hand on the parts of the board that stayed intact. He hit the bottom and felt a sharp pain go through his left leg, with an accompanying crack. His head banged against the earthen wall when his leg gave out, and his sun hat was no protection against the impact that sent him into black oblivion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missing in action?

Late-afternoon the same day, Jason, Ray and Brock entered the briefing room, just off their re-con mission. Trent and Sonny eagerly greeted them as Blackburn was trying to get Clay up on the radio.

“Come on in.” Sonny greeted the rest of Bravo. “Trent just made a pot of coffee. And we have cookies!”

“Alright.” Brock said with a smile on. “Cookies!”

Brock hurried over to grab one, and before Trent could get a warning out, took a huge bite.

Clay was indeed right, the look on Brock’s face was priceless. He rushed to the garbage can and spit it out as quickly as he could. “Those are disgusting.” He said, grabbing a cup of coffee to wash out the flavor.

Trent and Sonny sat there laughing while Jason and Ray also chuckled at their dog handler’s misfortune.

Bravo all gathered around the briefing table with their cups of coffee, shooting the shit about their different re-con ops that had separated the team. 

An hour later, Jason glanced at the clock. “Come on guys, it’s nearly dinner time. Why don’t we see what the lovely cafeteria has for us?”

“When is Pretty Boy supposed to be back?” Sonny asked as he got up from his chair, directing his question to Blackburn.

“He missed the past two check-ins.” Blackburn stated with a frown.

“Woah, two check-ins?” Ray asked, stopping with the team before he could exit.

“Yep. Last radio contact was when he was moving to a more advantageous position. He noticed a specific location with a lot of traffic. We gave approval. He said that he would be going further into the hills, so comms was going to be spotty.” Blackburn replied.

“Okay, not too bad.” Jason replied.

“How much longer will he need to be out there?” Trent asked.

“They wanted night surveillance, so the earliest he will be able to come in would be tomorrow morning.” Blackburn explained.

“Well, not much we can do about Bam Bam, so let’s go get some grub.” Sonny said as he headed towards the door.

Everyone exited the briefing room and headed towards the cafeteria for some food. A half-hour later, everyone came trooping back into the briefing room, wondering if Clay had made contact.

“Did you reach Clay yet?” Jason asked.

Blackburn shook his head. “No answer.”

“Not unusual when a person is in a nest and can’t leave.” Ray shrugged. “Hopefully we will get contact through the night or tomorrow morning.”

Jason frowned, feeling that something was wrong. “I guess.”

***

A few hours later, Clay slowly drifted back to consciousness. He felt cold. He moved and was rewarded by pain in multiple places. 

‘Why do I feel stiff?’ Clay was wondering. 

The ground below him felt hard and damp. Slowly, he opened his eyes. Clay looked around and found himself trapped in a small circular dirt hole about twenty feet deep. Looking up, he saw a small shaft of sunlight streaming through the rotted boards above.

‘This must be an old well.’ Clay though, panicking a little, realizing the distance between him and the opening above. Clay groaned as he remembered the fall. He slowly rose to his feet but sunk back down again as pain shot up his left leg. ‘Shit! This is just great. What have I gotten myself into this time?’

Looking down at his ankle, he could see the obvious deformity, along with the swelling that left it twice its normal size. Tentatively, he tried wiggling his toes, wincing at the pain. He swore at his ankle because there was nothing he could do. He knew he had most likely fractured his ankle, possibly damaged his tibia and fibula also. The fracture hadn’t broken the skin, so he could be thankful the fracture wasn’t compound. But still… A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he leaned his head back until it passed. He reached up and felt a small lump on the back of his head.

‘Great! I should have brought my helmet. I bet I can add a concussion to the list!” Clay wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious. ‘I guess that’s the least of my problems right now.’ He sighed, frustrated and punched the ground, then continued assessing his current situation.

‘Even if my leg wasn’t killing me, there’s no way I could climb out of here. Fuck, nobody knows my location. Hell, I’m not due to return until the morning and I told them at comms could be spotty. I’m fucked.’ He tried to shake away the negative thoughts. Panicking would not help his situation, but he couldn’t rid himself of the knot that was forming in the pit of his stomach. Right now, Clay couldn’t dream up a worse scenario if he tried. First thing first, he needed to get his boot off his foot before the swelling cut off his circulation. Fifteen minutes of grunts, groans and gritting his teeth, the boot was off. Suddenly, he felt drained. He knew he should stay awake, but just couldn’t manage to fight the overwhelming fatigue. He closed his eyes. ‘I just need to rest for a minute.’

***

Three hours later, Bravo was wrapping up in TOC and getting ready to head to bed. Only Jason seemed unable to relax. All further attempts to contact Clay had proved unsuccessful.

“Relax, Jase,” Ray said, handing him a water bottle. “He’s in the hills, comms are spotty.”

“He’s probably bored out of his mind,” added Brock.

“He has a brain?” smirked Sonny.

The others laughed and Jason smiled too.

‘I hope everyone is right, but something just seems off.’ Jason gave himself a mental shake. ‘Clay’s a big boy, so quit being so paranoid.’

Just then, Sonny said something to Trent and caused the medic to chase after him. Soon everyone was walking into the hooch and getting ready for bed.

***

Clay woke up, shivering. He propped himself up carefully, feeling the walls around him. The light was fading, rapidly, and he didn’t relish the thought of spending the night in this hole. He was so cold. His head and ankle were throbbing, and a hint of fear was starting to sink in. ‘I’ve cheated death a few ways, and I always figured that I would go out in a blaze of glory… but I never imagined dying alone in a hole.’

He pulled himself up and looked around once again, for some way of escape. He dug through his pack looking for something he could use to create handholds. He carefully set his two canteens aside and the two Power Bars, knowing he’s going to have to ration his water and his food. His ruck was light, since he was supposed to only be taking pictures, so he didn’t have any of his normal gear. He tried grabbing hold of some protruding rocks on the side of the walls but was unable to maintain his grasp. Frustrated, he soon abandoned that futile effort. Clay leaned against the wall, in desperation.

“Havoc, this is Bravo 6. Do you copy.” He tried into the radio, but all that returned was static. He then turned his head up, “Hello? Help! Someone! Anyone?”

His throat was starting to get parched from lack of water and his continued attempts to try to raise anyone on the radio. A tickle aggravated the dryness, bring on a coughing fit. It took more water than he’d liked, but finally he stopped coughing. Despondent, he leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes, allowing a small moan to escape his lips. ‘I can’t die in this hole… Sonny would never let me live this down.’

***

Early the next morning, Bravo team drifted into the briefing room. Jason wanted to get that first cup of coffee before they went over any more information. He looked at Blackburn, “Clay make contact yet?”

Blackburn shook his head. “Haven’t made contact yet. He should be making it back to his van in about 20 minutes. Hopefully he will get better reception.”

Jason nodded, figuring that the team will hear from their youngest soon. But 20 minutes later, when Blackburn attempted to make contact, Clay still didn’t respond.

Blackburn frowned and double checked the times written down. “How come Spenser hasn’t made contact?”

All of Bravo looked at each other, then looked at Jason. One glance at Jason’s anxious face, and they all knew that this wasn’t going according to plan. Blackburn sighed, “Okay, he’s probably taking more time to get back to the van because he moved to the second position.”

“If he doesn’t start calling in, I’m going to have him running hills until next year.” Jason complained to hide his worry.

Sonny smirked and started to work on their AARs. Blackburn tried to make contact every five minutes. As time passed, Bravo’s initial annoyance turned to concern. It wasn’t like Clay to go completely silent or to miss this many check-ins. Sonny glanced at Jason. He could see an equal measure of concern on Bravo One’s face.

Jason walked over to the comms, “Bravo Six, do you copy?” He waited for about 15 seconds, but no response. “Bravo Six, sitrep.” No response. Jason was clearly getting upset. “This isn’t like Clay. I’m getting concerned.”

Blackburn held up a hand. “Look, he could be waiting for something to happen in the village to get pictures, he could be waiting for the right time to get back to the van. His radio might be malfunctioning, because we know how reliable our radios are.” He headed over to his desk. “Let me know if he makes contact, okay?”

Jason watched as Blackburn sat at his desk and started pulling reports towards himself to work on.   
Sonny slid up beside Jason. “Man, I’d hate to be in Blondezilla’s shoes when he gets back to base.”

Trent glanced at Sonny. “I just hope he does get here… in one piece.”

“Come on, Trent,” said Ray. “Blackburn has a point. There could be a whole host of reasons why he hasn’t made contact or turned up. He’ll get here.”

“Yeah,” joked Sonny. “Bad pennies always turn up.”

Jason frowned, and turned to the comms unit to try once again.

***

Clay slowly drifted awake. For a moment, he panicked, disoriented. Then, he remembered, he was stuck down this damn well. He felt stiff. Slowly, he moved his arms and his good leg, trying to recover the circulation in his body. His injured foot felt heavy and tingled as if it were asleep. He moved his neck from side to side, groaning. He had a huge headache, no doubt aggravated by his awkward sleeping position and lack of food and water. 

Sunlight streamed in from the hole in the boards. It was bright. Taking a glance at his watch, it was nearing noon. Clay sat up, hope filling him. ‘I missed too many check-ins and I was supposed to be back on base by 10 AM. Surely, they realized he was missing by now. With any hope, they’d come looking for him soon.

Clay frowned. ‘They would have no idea where to look. They know my general location, but if they come searching for me, they would have to make sure no one in the village sees them. I should have told Havoc exactly where I was going. I can just imagine what Ray will say to this one.’ Then he laughed. ‘Yep, I’d do just about anything for a good stern lecture from any of my brothers right now.’

He leaned his throbbing head back against the wall of his small prison. A wave of pessimism washed over him. Clay closed his eyes again. There was nothing to do but wait.

***

As the morning hours passed with no word from Bravo 6, Bravo grew more concerned. Even Sonny stopped joking, and let his concern show. He knew that Clay would have called in at the first opportunity if he could. Besides, who could relax with Jason pacing back and forth like an expectant father? Finally, Sonny couldn’t take it anymore.

“This is ridiculous. We should be doing… something!” He exclaimed as he threw his hands into the air.

Blackburn looked up, not surprised by the outburst from the Texan. “The recon op that he was on was low risk, but still in an area with suspected terrorist activity. We can’t exactly send out a full search and rescue party.”

Jason stopped and looked at Blackburn. “But he hasn’t made contact in nearly 16 hours when he was moving position. Something could have gone wrong during that time.”

Blackburn nodded his head with his eyebrows furrowed, contemplating his answer. “I’ll see if I can sell it to command. Maybe we can get some ISR over his area.” He hurried over to the phone and started making a few phone calls.

“Should we check with the infirmary?” Brock asked.

Trent spoke up. “I talked to the admitting nurse, they haven’t seen him there. She said that should would check with some of the other teams that were returning from ops to see if they saw anything.”

Ray popped up. “Maybe the van had problems? Could be a flat tire or something.”

Jason shook his head. “Even though those vans look like shit, they are still in top working condition. Besides, he knows how to change a flat tire.”

The men grew silent, feeling helpless. Blackburn returned from making his calls. Bravo looked up at him expectantly.

“We’ll have ISR over his location in about an hour. We will see if he is still there. It’s about all I can do for now until its 24 hours.”

The men nodded. Jason sighed in frustration. ‘Spenser, you are running so many hills when we get you back.’

Sonny spoke up. “Well, I hope he found numero uno on the terrorist watch list… because he’s still getting his ass tanned by all of us for causing us to worry.”

Normally, Bravo would tease Sonny about showing his emotions, but all of them were concerned that their youngest was missing in action.

***

The sun was high, and taking a glance at his watch, it read noon. Clay stared at the hole above him, desperate for some contact with the outside world. He shivered uncontrollably, even if the temperature was rising. He felt as if he was slowly going crazy.

‘At this point, I’d welcome a visit from Ash.’

He tried taking deep breath and meditating. He had tried to exercise his arms and his good leg as much as possible, wishing to avoid the pins and needles associated with his cramped position. Tried to “re-read” books in his head. Anything to pass the time.

He imagined his brothers’ reaction to his absence. ‘Jason is going to be pissed. Trent is probably going around all the worst-case scenarios. Sonny is probably complaining about breaking in a new rookie. Ray is probably praying somewhere, and Brock is probably ready to let Cerb off his leash to come find me.’

Clay leaned his head back, sighing. ‘Please guys, please come find me!’


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Clay is found.

More time passed with no contact from Clay. Frustrated, Jason slammed the comms unit down in the cradle.

“Still no contact?” Blackburn asked worriedly.

Jason shook his head, clearly frustrated.

“Alright. We have ISR overhead. Let’s get eyes on Spenser.” Blackburn said as he brought up the live feed. Everyone crowded around, trying to look at the screen.

Soon, the drone flew over where Clay’s scooby van was parked. “Well, we know the van wasn’t stolen.” Sonny commented. The drone continued to fly overhead, but they couldn’t find Clay.

“He could be camouflaged.” Ray pointed out.

“Flip it to see if we can find his heat signature.” Trent requested.

Blackburn clicked on a couple of controls, and the scene on the computer screen changed. The drone made several passes, found a few animals, but didn’t show anything that was human shaped.

With this evidence, Blackburn turned to Bravo. “Alright. Why don’t you take a scooby van and poke around his location? Everyone take radios so that way we can keep in communication. I’ll keep ISR up to see if Clay manages to pop out of the woodwork.”

Jason nodded, relief apparent on everyone’s’ faces. “At least we’ll be doing something. I think all of us were starting to go crazy.”

Blackburn smirked from his chair, “Crazier than you already are.” Blackburn sat in the chair as he watched Bravo file out of TOC. He shook his head and turned back to the ISR, hoping that Spenser will show up soon.

***

“Pretty Boy, how do you manage to get yourself into these situations?”

“Sonny?” Clay looked up into the face of his brother.

“Haven’t I told you, that one of these times, you are going to find yourself in trouble and nobody’s going to be able to get you out of it?”

Clay could only nod, not quite sure what to do with Sonny’s attitude.

“Well, it looks like this is one of those times, doesn’t it?” Sonny admonished. “Just like how I was right about the leg pouch.”

Clay closed his eyes, too tired to argue or even try to figure out why Sonny was bringing up the leg pouch again.

Clay awoke, startled. “Sonny?” He looked around but nobody was there. ‘Must have been dreaming.’ He was shivering, but in the heat of the day, he didn’t feel as cold as before. For a moment, he hoped that maybe it was all just a bad dream, but reality quickly set it. ‘Fuck! Still stuck in a fucking hole.’

‘I’ve really outdone myself this time. Nobody is ever going to find me.’ He closed his eyes and gave into the blackness.

***

Bravo pulled alongside Clay’s scooby van in the desert. “Well, van still here. All four wheels still have air.” Ray commented.

Jason got out of the front passenger seat, while Trent got out of the driver’s seat and everyone including Cerberus piled out of the back. Sonny quickly opened the van and noted that all of Clay’s equipment and gear was missing out of the van.

“Looks like Ken Doll never came back.” Sonny said as he closed the van door.

Ray stood looking around the area. “Village is that way,” pointing towards the north, “So, he would head that way to set up his nest.”

Jason nodded, and keyed his mic, “Havoc, we are going to go to Bravo Six’s first position.”

“Copy Bravo One. Be careful.” Blackburn’s voice came over the comms.

It was a silent hike as Jason put Brock in the lead with Cerberus, followed by himself, Trent third in line, fourth was Ray and Sonny bringing up the rear. The one-mile hike to his nest, following Cerberus’ nose, was easy for Bravo team. They found Spenser’s nest, easily overlooking the village.

Jason felt as if a knot had formed in his stomach. “Any suggestions on where to start looking?”

“Blackburn said that he radioed in that he was moving position because he noticed a large amount of traffic on one side of the village.” Ray reported.

“Brock, see if Cerb can catch Spenser’s scent.” Jason commanded.

“Come here Cerb,” Brock said, and pointed Cerb’s nose where they could see that Clay had been laying in the dirt. “Seek. Seek.”

Cerb found the scent and started to take them further north, towards a valley. They started to descend the hill, following a trail that Cerberus was leading them on. As they were following the trail, Jason radioed in, “Havoc, this is Bravo One. Cerb has his scent. We are following the trail.”

“Copy Bravo One. We have you on ISR and will follow your progress.” Blackburn replied.

They continued down the trail, not seeing any signs of a struggle or contact from enemy. After about 15 minutes, the trail was getting harder to follow because of the brush, but Cerb still had the scent and they could see the occasional footprint indicating they were going in the right direction.  
***

“Clay, are you just gonna lay around all day?”

Clay opened his eyes, “J-Jason?”

“It looks to me like you’re not even trying to get yourself out of this cluster fuck!”

“I can’t, there’s no way to get out,” Clay answered 

“You’re a Tier One Operator. Work the problem.”

“But.” He closed his eyes again, then quickly opened them. “Boss?”

“Gotta go. The new rookie is waiting for us.”

“New… new rookie?” He tried to focus on Jason’s face. Suddenly, it was gone.

***  
Bravo continued to follow the trail into the ticket. Cerb was still on Clay’s scent but was going slower with the heavier brush.

Suddenly, they came upon the camera case in the bush. Cerb went to the case and started sniffing all over the handle. Jason glanced around. “Spenser has to be around here somewhere or there should be a sign of a struggle or fire fight.

“GQ!” Sonny called out. “Clay… Where are you hiding!”

Clay opened his eyes again. It took most of his energy just for that small task. ‘Is that Sonny? Or am I still dreaming?’

Brock walked over to the case, searching for footprints, but found none. “Wait a minute…” He stopped quick, balancing precipitously on the side of the hole. “Oh shit.”

“Clay,” Trent shouted down into the hole. “Clay… are you down there?” He carefully knelt, leaning over the boards as far as he dared, until he was able to see into the hole.

“Jason.” Trent yelled back to his team leader. “Found him. He’s fallen into what looks like an old well.”

“Is he okay?” Jason questioned. “Can you reach him?

“Negative. One of us is going to have to go down.” Trent replied, looking at their brother down the hole.

Sonny joined Trent by the side of the hole, “Peter Pan? Hey Clay! Can you hear me? We’re gonna get you outta there. Just hang on!”

‘Sonny? Sounds so real.’ Clay cracked open an eye and peered up to the opening.

“Sonny,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. His throat was so dry, it burned, and he began coughing.

“Thank you, Sweet Jesus! Hang on brother!” Sonny called down to him. He then stood up to regroup with the rest of the team.

“Havoc, Bravo One. We found Bravo Six, alive. Looks like he’s been trapped in a well since you lost radio contact.” Jason reported in.

“Good copy, Bravo One. We are following you on ISR. Bring him home.” Blackburn replied.

“We’re gonna need a rope and make a harness that we can use on Clay.” Trent was explaining. “Brock, you’re the skinniest of us, you will have to go down since it’s going to be a pretty tight fit.”

Brock nodded and unhooked Cerb’s leash.

Clay opened his eyes and squinted at the light coming in above. ‘Must have been another dream.’ Clay thought. He would have sworn that Sonny was just here. 

‘Damn, I’m cold.’ He began to shiver violently. He closed his eyes, no longer caring if Sonny was there are not.

Trent knelt carefully beside the rotted wood. “Clay! Hey brother! Come on! We’re gonna get you out, but we need your help. Clay! Answer me, Clay.”

Clay slowly rolled his head and peeled open his eyes. “Leave me ‘lone, ‘rent,” he muttered.

Above, Trent grinned, relieved. Trent turned to the rest of the team. “I was hoping we could lower the rope harness and have him fasten it around himself, but he sounds pretty out of it. We will have to lower Brock down so he can get the harness on him. Then, we can pull him out.”

Jason nodded and Brock quickly donned his own harness. Ray set about tying a line to the second harness. Brock headed over to the hole while Sonny and Trent were busy prying off the rotted wood, enlarging the hole’s entrance for Brock’s descent. Brock waited until they finished, then carefully got into position. With Jason anchoring him, he began to climb down.

In a few minutes, he had reached Clay. “Hold up!” he yelled to Jason. There really wasn’t much room in the well for him to check his brother out at the bottom.  
Straddling Clay, he reached down to check his brother’s carotid pulse. “Clay?” Brock patted Clay on the cheek, trying to solicit a response. “Clay?”

Slowly, Clay’s eyes opened but remained unfocused. Brock patted his cheek again. “Come on, brother.”

Clay tried hard to concentrate. Someone was shaking him and calling to him. He forced his eyes to focus. “Brock?” He blinked a few times and then his eyes drifted shut again. “You aren’t really there… just like the others.”

Brock grinned. “Yeah, I’m here, brother. Come on; it’s time to get out of here. Okay?”

Clay’s eyes opened and he blinked, again. Brock could tell Clay hadn’t comprehended everything. He struggled to reach down and put the harness around Clay, yelling up to Jason. “I need more slack!” Slowly, he felt his line give. Finally, he was able to attach the harness around Clay. He yelled again. “Okay, take him up, slowly!” Brock lifted Clay underneath his arms, into a standing position. “Come on brother, help me out here.” Clay cried out in pain as he attempted to put weight on his leg.

Brock quickly reached to support his teammate, shouting. “Hold. Wait a second.” He looked at Clay, who was still fighting to stay conscious. “Clay, they’re gonna pull you up, now. Do you understand?”

Clay looked at him confused. “Okay.”

“We’ll have you out of here, in a minute.” Brock nodded and shouted upwards. “Take him up.”

Slowly, Clay started to ascend. A short way up he became agitated. “Brock… Brock, where are you?”

Brock sighed, looking up. “Clay, just take it easy.” He watched as Clay was pulled up and finally over the edge, to safety. Then he checked his own harness, again.  
Jason called down, “Okay, Brock. It’s your turn. Just hold on. We’ll have you out in a sec.”

Brock nodded and the team pulled him up from the hole.

When Clay was pulled out of the hole, Trent wanted Clay placed into the EZ EVAC Folding Stretcher out of Sonny’s ruck. With Ray and Sonny’s help, they carefully placed him onto the stretcher. Trent did a quick assessment and noted Clay’s deformed lower leg. He then covered him with a blanket as Clay shivered in the afternoon heat. “Let’s get him to the clearing.”

They carefully carried the stretcher to the edge of the clearing where they could work on him without the underbrush. 

Jason put his handle of the stretcher down and turned to ask Trent, “How’s he doing Trent?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to say right now, but he’s dehydrated, as well as hypothermic. Obvious deformity in his leg means its broken. Also felt a lump on the back of his head. I don’t think there’s any other fractures.” Trent quickly reached in his kit for his BP cuff and stethoscope and started taking Clay’s vitals.

“Pulse is 130, respiration 24 and labored, BP is 85/40, skin tugor is slow. Definitely dehydrated and in shock.” Trent was rattling off vitals and thinking out loud. “We need to start an IV with Ringers, give him a 500cc bolus, then set it to run at 200cc an hour.”

Trent turned to Jason, “Can you do that while I splint his leg? We need to get him back to base ASAP.”

Jason nodded and reached for the supplies. While Trent was applying the splint, Jason was starting the IV when he noticed that Clay was watching him. “You know, if you wanted a vacation, there are better ways to get them.”

Clay frowned and closed his eyes again.

Jason patted his shoulder, reassuringly as Trent was wrapping up Clay and getting ready for them to walk out with their precious cargo.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. Battling a cold and getting the energy to write is hard.

The hike back to the scooby vans was only about a mile and a half, but it was carrying Clay and navigating the trails that made the hike a little more difficult. Thirty minutes later, they had finally reached the scooby vans and loaded Clay into one.

Once inside the van, Clay regained consciousness, helped along by the fluids, and opened his eyes. ‘No hole. This can’t be a dream.’ He attempted to focus on the face above him. “Sonny?”

“Hey, Ken Doll,” Sonny answered. “We’re on our way back to base; just sit back and relax.”

Clay tried to say something else, but his throat was killing him. “Thirsty,” was all he managed to get out.

“I’ll bet you are,” Trent said, popping into his field of vision, his voice had a hint of concern in it. “Sorry, all I’m going to allow is to wet your mouth in case you need surgery on that ankle when we reach base.”

Clay had already closed his eyes again. “Mmm hmm.”

Trent studied his brother closely, making sure his IV was continuing to provide him fluids he desperately needed, and his leg stayed secured in the splint.

Clay slept the rest of the way into the base, not regaining consciousness until a flurry of activity in the treatment room roused him.

“Petty Officer Spenser? Are you with us?” Clay heard a voice call. He opened his eyes to see a base physician shining a penlight into his eyes. He groaned, trying to roll his head away from the offending light.

“Sorry about that,” the physician said. “Just another quick look… okay.” The light was removed, and Clay squeezed his eyes shut again. “Come on, Petty Officer, stay with me.”

Reluctantly, Clay opened his eyes. The physician was now holding two fingers in front of him. “Follow my finger.”

Clay chuckled drowsily and asked, “Both of them?”

The physician frowned again, “Do you see two?” He held up two fingers. “How many am I holding up now?”

Clay glanced at his hand disinterestedly. He was too tired to count.

“Stay with me, Petty Officer. How many fingers do you see?” The physician persisted.

“Clay Spenser!” Trent said loudly. “Answer the question.”

“Four… ‘m hot.” Clay replied, closing his eyes once again.

“Let’s get a full skull series and his left leg. Also, let’s get a full blood work up to the lab. I want complete blood count, basic metabolic panel and urinalysis. Stat.” The physician looked at his patient, then turned to Trent. “Well, he’s definitely concussed. We’ll get the x-rays and other tests, and hopefully rule out anything worse. That leg is fractured, and we’ll know more when we get the x-rays on how severe. You were right about the hypothermia and the dehydration. We’ll get him warmed up and get some fluids in him. As soon as we get his fluid levels up, along with knowing how severe the fracture it, we will determine if he needs to stay here longer than 24 hours or if he will be our guest for longer. But I don’t see anything that could be life threatening at this moment.” 

“That’s good news.” Trent let out a sigh. “I’m going to go to the waiting room and let the team know.”

***

As Trent exited the door between the waiting room and treatment area, Bravo jumped to their feet. One look told them that Clay wasn’t in immediate danger, but still injured.

“What’s the damage?” Jason asked.

“Well, he’s got a concussion and they’re doing tests to make sure there’s not a more serious head injury involved. His leg is broken, and we are waiting on x-rays to see how severe. He’s still a little disoriented and tired, but the physician thinks he’ll be okay.”

Smiles were spreading across everyone’s faces. 

“That’s good news.” Ray said.

“Yes, it is.” Trent replied nodding his head. “Just waiting on x-rays and then we can see when we can get out of here.

***

Clay was dreaming. He was lying on a beach. He could feel the warmth of the sun on his body. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

“Welcome back!” Ray said brightly, as he was pulling a “Spenser Watch”.

Clay squinted, trying to get his eyes to focus on the voice. “Ray?” he asked, finally getting his eyes to cooperate. “I guess that means I’m not at the beach?”

He smiled. “Afraid not. You have quite a few blankets on. I’ll take some off now, since your body temperature is almost normal.”

“What happened?” Clay groaned.

Ray looked at him. “What do you remember?”

Clay frowned. “You guys were on a recon op.”

Ray put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “That was two days ago. Do you remember anything else?”

Clay tried to concentrate. “Dark… a hole… did I fall?”

Ray nodded. “You fell into an old well. Busted your leg and hit your head pretty good. Gonna start making you wear your helmet all the time.”

Clay frowned. “How did I get here?”

“We went looking for you when you didn’t show up. And as luck would have it, Cerb found you.” Ray replied.

Clay shook his head. “Don’t remember.”

Ray smiled. “It’s no wonder. You have a nice concussion.”

Clay tried to sit up, groaning at the pain in his head and leg. Ray patted his arm. “I’m gonna find a nurse and see if we can get something for your aches and pains.”

For once, Clay complied without much of a complaint, shutting his eyes as he heard the door shut, slowly drifting back to sleep.

***

The next day, Clay was being loaded onto the C-17 for transport back home. He had been in and out of it from the concussion and pain medications for his ankle. The orthopedic physician on-call said that the fracture could be set without the need of surgery and placed Clay in a soft cast for the ride home in case it decided to swell with the changes in altitude. Once he landed at the base in Virginia, he would be heading to the hospital for a hard cast for the next six weeks.

Bravo team made sure the gurney that Clay was sleeping on was securely tied down to the floor so that it wouldn’t move during the flight. Trent also made sure that Clay had just a little sedation so that he would sleep through them strapping him securely to the gurney for takeoff.

After takeoff, everyone gathered around the gurney and started playing cards as they watched their youngest sleep off the sedation that Trent had given him.  
About two hours into the flight, Sonny glanced over and noticed some baby blue eyes watching their poker game. “Look who decided to grace us with his presence?”

“This must be a nightmare to wake up to your face.” Clay responded with a smirk.

The rest of Bravo chuckled at this comeback. Trent turned to him, “How’s your pain level?”

“Doing okay right now,” Clay responded. “Deal me in?”

“Sure thing.” Ray said as he started to deal the next round.

Trent went around to the back of the gurney and raised the head so that Clay wouldn’t have to play laying down.

After about an hour, Jason noted that Clay would occasionally bob his head like he was trying to resist falling asleep. He bumped elbows with Trent who was sitting next to Clay’s gurney. Trent made eye contact with Jason and nodded his head. They were going to let Clay fall asleep and re-arrange him when he was out. Not surprising with his concussion that he would be sleeping.

It took Clay about 15 more minutes before he was out and not waking back up. Ray gently took his cards and put them back in the deck and Trent walked to the back of the gurney and lowered the head so Clay could sleep as flat as the gurney allowed. Trent also made sure to re-arrange Clay’s limbs so he could pull the light blanket up to his chest but left his left arm out to be able to take his blood pressure during the flight.

Six hours into their 14-hour flight back to Virginia, Clay was jolted awake by a jolt of pain that radiated from his knee, down his left calf and into his foot. “Ahhh!”

Trent had just finished taking Clay’s BP when suddenly, Clay’s hands gripped the gurney railing, white knuckled. Trent grabbed Clay’s forearm. “What is it, Clay?”

Clay’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut. He panted rapidly to deal with this new misery. He was trying to move, struggling with the straps that were holding him in place in case of turbulence.

“Clay? Tell me what’s happening!” Trent tried again, catching the attention of the rest of Bravo.

There was no answer. Clay continued to struggle, trying to reach for his soft-casted leg.

Trent tried frantically to figure out what was wrong. Clay’s heart rate and respiration were going through the roof, and Trent needed to get it figured out. He noticed Clay seemed to be trying to reach for his legs, particularly the fractured one. A closer look revealed his muscles in the calf were contracting, along with his toes curling. “Clay! You need to relax.”

Clay gripped the railing even harder as another bolt of excruciating pain tore down his left leg. Tears were forming at his eyes and started tracking down the sides of his face as he continued to try to find a more comfortable position. He needed to let Trent know what was going on, so he could help him, but his muddled brain couldn’t find the words.

Trent ran his hand through his hair, he didn’t know what to do. “Clay! Is it your ankle?”

Clay had never felt so frustrated and helpless. All he wanted to do was tell Trent, but he gritted his teeth and managed to get out, “Leg… is… cramping.”

Trent thought quickly, “Cramp?” His eyes once again noticed the muscle of his leg that he could see contracting. Suddenly an idea sprang to mind. “Clay, you were dehydrated, cramping is expected as your electrolytes are balanced out.”

Clay didn’t answer but continued his hold on the gurney railings. Still, Trent thought he could see just the slightest hint of relief in his expression. “Clay, I’m going to change the position of the leg to see if we can release the cramp. Just left me do all the work, though, okay?”

Trent motioned for Jason to help him. He had Jason stabilize Clay’s leg before unwrapping the top of the soft splint. Trent gently shifted the position of Clay’s left leg. It took a few tries, and he was wary of moving his leg too much. If Clay’s fractured ankle is displaced at all from the muscle cramps, Trent knew he could cause even more damage by moving it. Not to mention the additional pain it was causing Clay as the fractured ends of the bones grated against each other. Thankfully, though, a more comfortable position was achieved. Clay’s pulse and breathing slowed to a still rapid, but more stable level. Trent let out the breath he had been holding and re-bandaged the soft splint.

Now that he had gotten some relief from the intense pain, Clay felt tired, more tired than when he was sitting in the bottom of that hole. And cold… He just wanted the pain to end, and sleep was embracing him. He closed his eyes.

“Clay? Come on, Bam Bam! Open your eyes!” Sonny said, hated waking him. 

Clay opened his eyes and blinked slowly.

Sonny gripped Clay’s hand. “That’s it, Pretty Boy. Just a few more hours and you will get a soft bed, pretty nurses and good pain meds.”

Clay opened his eyes and blinked slowly. Trent popped into his field of vision. “Gonna start a banana bag on you to balance the electrolytes.”

Clay didn’t respond and closed his eyes. He felt someone, Trent, pick up his right arm and then a quick stick of a needle, and he let himself drift off into oblivion.

***

Clay was in and out of sleep for the next 5 hours. Occasionally waking up, taking a few sips of water, bite or two of sandwich before going back to sleep. The team was concerned, but Trent reminded everyone that Clay had a concussion and sleep was the best thing for him.

Two hours out from landing at base, Clay slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Sonny was asleep in a chair beside the gurney. He had random recollections about pieces of conversations he had over the course of the flight, but overall his memory was fuzzy at best.

Clay shifted his position slightly on the gurney and felt a lightening bold of pain tear through his foot and up his leg to his knee. His hiss of pain brought Sonny to attention.

Sonny was standing over Clay in an instant, his hand resting on Clay’s left thigh. “Take it easy, Pretty Boy. Is it your leg again?”

Clay licked his lips. “Yeah.” He gritted his teeth as he shifted again to see if he could get his leg to relax. His muscles seemed to hate him right now, sending yet another bolt of pain down his foot and up to his need. “Ahhh… shit! This splint is… so damned uncomfortable.”

Sonny turned and called to Trent, and while Trent was getting his kit, he lifted a cup of water for Clay to drink from. Clay got one sip before pressure on his nerve, which produced a knife-like pain he could feel everywhere in his lower leg. It hurt so bad, Clay’s eyes watered, and he felt nauseous. 

Trent looked at Sonny. “Again?”

Sonny nodded.

Clay’s teeth were clenched as he addressed Bravo’s medic. “Please… you gotta give me something…”

Trent looked empathetically at his brother. “I’m sorry, Spense. It’s only been an hour since I gave you your last pain meds. Give me a second to call the base hospital and see if we can’t do something to get you more comfortable.” Trent patted his arm. “Just relax a minute and I’ll be right back.”

Clay panted trying to manage his pain. The pain had subsided for now, but his leg muscle continued to try to contract, and the deep ache in his foot that radiated all the way up his knee was making him feel sick. On top of that, his toes and the side of his foot tingled with the pins and needles usually associated with a limb waking up after it had been “asleep”.

Sonny felt his anger threaten to rise, because there was nothing, he could do to help Clay. 

Trent returned, checked the position of the splint. He frowned as he noticed the muscles contracting and was concerned at the amount of pain Clay was experiencing. He quickly checked the dorsal pedal and posterior pulses on Clay’s foot, before digging through his kit. “Ortho doc at base said to give you 10ccs cyclobenzaprine and 5 mgs. Demerol, slow IV push. Should help stop the muscle spasms and control the pain until we land. They’re going want to get more x-rays to see how that fracture is sitting. It may need surgery.”

Clay wasn’t relishing the thought of surgery, but if it would make this pain go away, he couldn’t wait. He clutched Sonny’s hand tightly as he waited for the new medications to take effect.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And of cause, Clay has a complication.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feeling much better and here is the next chapter.

Jason and Trent sat in the orthopedic doctor’s office that Clay was transferred to upon landing. They were waiting for the physician to come in with Clay’s latest x-rays. Unfortunately, Clay had more muscle spasms while they were trying to get x-rays and the medical staff knocked him on his ass with medications to stop the spasms and control his pain.

The physician quickly opened the door and breezed over to the computer that was in the office. He quickly logged in and started to pull up Clay’s file and his x-rays.

Dr. Miller pointed to Clay’s latest x-rays which were on the computer monitor in the physician’s office. “This was taken after they placed him in the soft splint in J-Bad.” He clicked on a new image. “As you can see, his latest x-rays show that the muscle spasms he experienced on the flight home has destabilized the fracture.”

Jason and Trent stared at the x-ray with grim expressions. They exchanged concerned glances over Clay’s sedated form.

Dr. Miller continued. “Petty Officer Spenser continues to have muscle spasms that are becoming more and more difficult to control with medication. It could be that part of the displaced fracture is resulting in nerve irritation, the instability of the fracture itself or just the position he’s forced in for the fracture to heal. It could be a combination of all three. At any rate, the more his muscles contract, the more they pull the fracture out of alignment. He needs to have the fracture surgically reduced as soon as we can.”

Jason looked over at Trent to get his opinion. “I agree. The muscle spasms are just going to get worse. We need to fix this now.”

“Alright, let’s wake Clay up and get him to say yes.” Jason replied, already moving to shake Clay’s shoulder.

Clay woke with a start and glanced around the room, focusing on Trent and Jason. “What?” He groaned as he laid his head back down.

“You need surgery to fix your ankle.” Trent explained.

“Will it stop the cramping?” Clay asked, looking at Trent.

Trent nodded.

“Then do it. I can’t stand this for another six weeks.” Clay said as he promptly placed the heels of his hands on his eyes.

“That’s good enough for me.” Dr. Miller said as he typed away on the computer. “We have an opening later this afternoon, so we can get you fixed up in a jiffy.”

Clay didn’t respond, but Trent and Jason both nodded that they understood that their youngest brother was going to need to go under the knife to get better.

***

Clay was bored. Very bored. He already flipped through every channel that was on the TV, caught up on all his social media apps and even tried to read the magazine that Sonny left for him. The team had gone home while he had surgery to fix his ankle and were due back at any time. He picked up the magazine again. Everything was boring, but he guessed anything would be boring if you were in so much pain that he couldn’t even get through one paragraph of one article. He keeps trying to read but being alone without his brothers had him re-living the dreams/hallucinations that he had while in that well.

He knows Brock was down in that hole with him, but he doesn’t remember that. He knew that Trent splinted his busted-up leg, and he was sure that he would’ve remembered that if he hadn’t been out of it. And he knows he rode in the van back to base, but he doesn’t remember that. 

He laid back on the bed with his magazine, and if he held it up just right, he couldn’t see the ugly cast they placed his leg in. He leaned over and reached for his headphones. Maybe he could play his music loud enough to drown out the buzzing feeling in his leg.

Just as he placed his headphones in, Trent popped his head in the door.

“How you doing?” Trent asked, almost too brightly.

“Fine!” Clay said with false cheer while internally calling himself a liar.

“Great… You ready for a visit from the rest of the troops?” Trent asked.

“Yeah, go ahead and send them in.” Clay replied, while the thought, ‘Liar, liar, leg on fire.’

Soon everyone entered the room and started talking at once. There’s Trent, Jason, and Brock without Cerberus, but no Ray or Sonny.

“Ray and Sonny are bringing up Naima and the kids.” Jason said as he looked over his youngest brother.

Clay quickly looked down to see if he was decent… well, as decent as you get in a hospital gown. He adjusted the blanket laying over him and thought, ‘Damn. How can one ankle itch so much?’

A commotion at the door had him turning his attention to Sonny, who walked in stating, “Hey Peter Pan! No, don’t get up.”

“You’re hilarious.” Clay deadpanned. Clay was looking around and noticed everyone was in his room. ‘Shit, my ankle really itches… It must be the stitches! Feels like ants. And giants, with great big hammers pounding on my leg too. And I can feel my pulse in my foot pounding, so that’s good, right?’

“Hey, Clay,” Naima said as she looked the rookie up and down. “You sure you’re up for a visit?”

“Hey Naima,” Clay replied. “Sure I am. Wouldn’t want to deprive those kids of getting’ to see their Uncle Clay, now would I?”

Just then Jameelah came racing up to Clay’s bed. “Wow,” she breathed. “Mom wasn’t kidding when she said you got hurt. You look awful!”

Clay smiled at Jameelah and thought, ‘That girl is so Naima it isn’t funny. At least she was being honest.’

“Uncle Clay, look!” said RJ. He held up a fat red crayon. “When Bobby broke his arm, we all got to draw on his cast. Can I draw on your cast?”

“NO! Don’t touch it!” Clay exclaimed quickly, not meaning to yell at sweet RJ. “Sorry, buddy, it’s just that, um, this isn’t my real cast.”

“Yeah, RJ, this one is just till the swelling from the surgery goes down. In a couple of days, they’ll cut this one off and he’ll get one he can keep for a while.” Ray explained to his son.

“That’s right,” Trent followed up, “And then I’ll bet he’ll be happy to have a picture from his favorite artist, right Clay?”

“Sure thing, RJ. In a couple of days.” Clay replied, trying to ignore the feeling of buzzing bees in his foot, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of a chainsaw at work halfway up his shin bone.

Naima watched the different conversations happening around the room, and walked over and sat herself in the chair that was next to Clay’s bed.

Clay watched her and he got the feeling that she was going to mother hen him. She had that look in her eye that she had Clay’s number. Nobody notices when Naima reaches out and takes his hand, specifically his wrist to take his pulse. Sonny’s busy doing something stupid with Brock, and Ray’s telling Jameelah a nice version of how Clay ended up with a broken leg. Trent is talking to Lisa and Jason is letting RJ draw in a little notebook he found in a drawer.

The feeling of bees swarming is getting worse in Clay’s leg. More of a sting, now; not just buzzing. The chainsaw’s revving up… Clay was thinking that his pain meds must have worn off and he was just given some. Those pain meds were doing a whole lot of nothing.

Naima whispers to Clay, “115, Clay, and you’re cold and sweating. Are you doing okay?”

Moment of truth, Clay whispers back, “Naima, I’m really hurtin’. Can you get the kids outta here somehow before I lose it?”

“Sure thing, Clay.” She looks over to Lisa. “Lisa?” she asked, in that voice that grown-ups know means something’s serious, but kids don’t. “I was thinking that Clay needs to get a gift from the gift shop. Maybe another seal? How about you come with me with the kids so we can help pick something out?” She pointed towards Clay, gesturing with a thumbs-down where the kids couldn’t see.

Lisa looked at Clay, and said brightly, “Okay, let’s go see what we can find for Clay. Who’s going to lead the way?”

“Me!” Jameelah yelled and rushed over to the doorway, with RJ quickly following. “Bye Uncle Clay!”

Clay tried to wave, but he couldn’t unclench his fists from the sheets. Neither child noticed.

“Hey Trent?” Clay managed to ask. He’s figured it out, now, too. He’s checking Clay’s toes.

Clay can’t see his toes… doesn’t really want to know if they are cold and blue or hot and red, but he’s pretty sure they aren’t warm and pink. “Can someone hand me that pillow over there?”

Sonny’s right by the empty bed, so he grabs the pillow. “Here ya go, Princess, where do you want it?”

Clay managed to unclench his hands. “Just hand it to me!” Clay pleads. He then covers his face with it and screams and sobs into it.

Clay didn’t even care that he was losing it in front of all of Bravo. There were tears streaking down his face and he didn’t give a shit. Trent made him give up his screaming pillow – he apparently wanted Clay to breathe or something. Clay resorted to covering his face with his hands.

Jason is holding Clay, whether that’s to comfort or to prevent him from hurting himself, Clay doesn’t know.

Clay does hear Ray start to say a prayer and he is sure someone started to gag… his money was on Sonny.

Clay felt cold on the back of his hand, felt a needle stick which was nothing compared to his leg. A rush and then everything went hazy.

A nurse quickly rushed in, administered the sedative and started an IV. They had pulled it after the surgery when everything seemed fine, but now everything was going downhill.

Trent and the nurse could clearly see that something was not right with Clay’s leg, and the nurse quickly left to page Dr. Miller.

It was only a few minutes, but Dr. Miller came quickly into the room… in time to see Clay turn over the edge of the bed and vomit everything he’s had since the surgery onto the floor.

He rolled back over and groaned as Sonny complained about Clay’s vomit splashing on his shoes.

“Sorry.” Clay mumbled.

“That’s okay, Petty Officer Spenser. I’m going to get you something for the nausea. It will make you very sleepy, but should help with the vomiting.” Dr. Miller replied. He turned towards the nurse, “Ah, nurse, 25 mg. Phenergan IV, push extremely slowly please, and flush with normal saline.”

Clay heard the nurse repeat the orders, but he was slowly drifting off.

***

Clay was floating, or he thought he was floating. He was surrounded by a black void, not feeling a thing.

“Petty Officer Spenser.” Came a voice from somewhere.

He ignored the voice and continued to float.

“Petty Officer Spenser. Can you open your eyes?” Came the voice again.

Clay wondered who the voice was talking to. He ignored the voice again. This floating feeling felt nice.

“Clay? C’mon, Bravo Six.” Jason’s voice floating down to Clay.

“Boss?” Clay mumbled. “Tired.”

“I know, buddy. I know.” Jason replied, patting him on the shoulder.

“Petty Officer Spenser, it is Dr. Miller from orthopedics. It looks like you’re having trouble with circulation in your leg. When we pinned the bones in surgery, we did have some concerns about this possibility due to the displaced fracture. It could be that the swelling has made the cast too tight, or it could be something vascular that we didn’t see.” Dr. Miller was explaining, but he had doubts on if his patient was understanding everything. “At this point, we need to get the cast off, to get a better idea of what’s going on. Do you understand?”

“Yep. Toes. Blue. Leg, uh, huzzshrl.” Clay slurred out as he started drifting off again.

“What about your leg, Clay?” Trent asked, trying to make sense of Clay’s slurring.

“…hurts. Like. Hell.” Came the short, clipped response.

“I’m sure it does. You had a nasty fracture before we went in and pinned everything. Your medic did a fantastic job of splinting it and moving it when you had those muscle spasms. It could’ve been a lot worse.” Dr. Miller explained.

“Tha’s muh brotha.” Clay all but giggled out.

“Okay, gentlemen, I’m going to have Petty Officer Spenser in the casting room for a while. Is there someone from his family who we can contact to stay here tonight?” Dr. Miller asked. “Because we can put a family member in the other bed, just for tonight. Petty Officer Spenser here is going to be out of it, and we’re short-staffed tonight on the ortho floor, and I think he could really use…”

“Uh, Doc, we’re kind of it.” Sonny replies.

“That’s fine – it can be one of you, but I don’t think the nursing staff would be happy about having your whole team here.” Dr. Miller explained.

“I’ll stay for the first shift. We should be home for the next couple of days, so we can trade off.” Trent said.

“Thanks Trent.” Jason said. “Call us in the morning? I’ll come in and take second shift.”

“You guyzrthbest.” Clay mumbled and slurred out, not opening his eyes.

“Okay, let’s get Petty Officer Spenser over to the casting room. We’ll make this ride as smooth as possible.” Dr. Miller said as Clay could feel them release the breaks to the hospital bed.

Clay really didn’t care, he just wanted to go to sleep and wake up with both legs still attached.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Clay is finally on the mend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for hanging on for the ride!

Clay was drifting again when a voice penetrated the silence.

“Are the sandbags supporting that knee? We don’t want any movement there.” Said the voice.

Suddenly, Clay heard a cracking and crunching sound. He wondered what the hell that noise was and thought that someone was taking a chainsaw to his leg. There was a vibrating noise and a large CRACK.

The voice from before was back, “Okay, it’s open. Let’s just get the top off so I can see what’s going on in there.” There was a small pause. “Okay, really careful cutting the padding around the stitches. Great.”

There was more silence and Clay started to drift in the peace and quiet. Suddenly, he felt a poke in his leg. He ignored it the first time. He was poked again, and he tried to ignore it again. He was poked a third time and he finally spoke up, “Stoppit.”

“Sorry, Petty Officer Spenser, I know this is very uncomfortable.” The same voice replied.

Clay wondered what the voice was doing, so he asked, “Doin’?”

Petty Officer Spenser, please try not to talk.” Replied a feminine voice.

‘What the hell are they doing to my leg?’ Clay thought as they poked it again. “wha… cha… doin’? Hur’s…more ‘n jus’ broke… real fucked up.”

“Petty Officer Spenser, sometimes with a serious fracture there’s bleeding and swelling inside a muscle – inside the lining of the muscle, where the fluid can’t get out on its own. If there’s too much pressure, the circulation can be compromised.” The male voice said.

“Gonna lose th’ leg?” Clay wanted to know.

“That would be a possible complication, but no, we caught it in good time.” The male voice reassured.

Clay tried to move to see if he could look at his leg.

“Petty Officer Spenser, you need to try to stop moving.” The nurse reprimanded.

Clay just wanted to move his hands so he could wipe his face, he could feel that his face was wet. At least this wasn’t in front of the guys also.

“Okay, yep, that’s what I thought – it’s the lateral compartment. When the tibia broken, it ruptured the anterior compartment, but the splinters from the fibular fracture definitely put pressure on the lateral compartment. Petty Officer Spenser, I need to make an incision on the side of your calf to let the pressure out. It shouldn’t have to be too big, because we caught this really fast.” Dr. Miller was explaining.

“’kay.” Clay responded. Not like he needed to be cut up some more, but he was attached to his leg.

Clay felt a couple of little stings along his leg. It wasn’t too bad.

“Okay, lidocaine in. Betadine prep please.” Dr. Miller asked the nurse.

‘Oh, that was only the local.’ Clay giggled at his thought. 

“Okay, Petty Officer Spenser? Can you feel this?” Dr. Miller asked as he touched Clay’s leg.

“Feel what?” Clay responded. He really wished that the doctor was stop saying “okay” all the time.

“How about this?” Dr. Miller asked.

“Nope.” Was Clay’s simple response.

“Okay, you should just feel some pressure now. Let me know if this gets uncomfortable. Nurse, scalpel.” Dr. Miller said.

Clay just laid there thinking, ‘Stop saying okay!’

“There’s the fascia, and, okay, it’s open now. Sponge… good, not too much bleeding. Looks good.” Dr. Miller was having a running commentary of the procedure.

Clay tilted his head up so he could see what was happening. One glance and he flopped his head back down. ‘Nope, not from here it doesn’t look good. Shit, I wish I hadn’t looked.’

“Okay, nurse, let’s close the skin. Sutures please. No, the 4-0 silk. Watch out, don’t bump the bed-“ Dr. Miller was saying, but Clay interrupted him by screaming bloody murder at the pain that caused.

“Hang on, Petty Officer Spenser. Okay, 2 more mg. MS, IV push. For his weight, that really all we can…” Dr. Miller’s explanation faded off as the morphine took effect.

***

Clay was floating again. No pain… No sound… just a black oblivion.

“Petty Officer Spenser.” Came a very faint voice.

Clay ignored it.

“Clay Spenser, it Dr. Miller. I need you to wake up, okay?” Came the voice, more insistent this time.

Clay ignored it again, because everything was not okay.

“Petty Officer Spenser? Can you hear me?” Dr. Miller tried again with no success. “Okay, ah, nurse, he’s really down deep. We’re going to have to keep a close eye on him if he can’t wake up. Monitor his respirations for the next…” 

Clay faded off again.

***

Clay was rudely awakened by knuckles being rubbed on his sternum. “Wha…”

“Clay? Come on, you need to open your eyes.” Came Trent’s voice.

“Lice.” Is what came out of Clay’s mouth, and that’s not what he meant.

“What was that, Clay?” Trent leaned down to hear better.

“Lights. Too much.” Clay responded with his eyes opened a sliver.

“Alright, let me dim that for you.” Trent responded as he went to the switch and adjusted the setting. “Better?”

“Yeah… how long you been here?” Clay wondered.

“Been waiting for you to wake up going on about four hours now.” Trent replied. “You’ve been out of it.”

“Trent?” Clay questioned.

“I’m still here.” Trent wondered where this was going.

“’s not.” Came Clay slurred comment.

“Huh? You need a Kleenex?” Trent asked, reaching for the tissue box.

“No! ‘s not!” Clay tried again.

“Uh, you said ‘snot’, but I don’t know what you mean. Is something wrong with your nose?” Trent tried again.

Clay was frustrated. He would expect this out of Sonny, but not the team medic. He’s supposed to speak drugged up and in pain.

“It’s NOT okay!” Clay finally articulated.

“Sorry, Clay, I’m not following.” Trent replied.

‘No shit.’ Clay thought. “Doc keeps sayin’, okay, okay. ‘s not okay.” Clay got out and he felt tears trickling down his cheeks again.

“I know, Clay. I know.” Trent said as he grabbed on and squeezed Clay’s hand as he drifted off again.

***

Clay had static in his ears, and he could hear his pulse. He could feet it too. 

“Clay? Do you know where you’re at?” Came a voice.

It took some thought, but Clay got out, “Hospital? Hole? Leg.”

Clay then promptly drifted off again.

***

“Clay. Try to open your eyes, brother.” Trent asked and Clay followed the direction and opened his eyes. “Hey, there you are.”

Clay’s eyes wondered around, and landed on his leg. There was no cast on it, and it looked really puffy.

“Trent?” Clay cleared his throat because he was parched.

“Yeah, Clay, it’s me.” Trent responded.

“Trent, how come there’s not cast on?” Clay got out easier this time than before they cut the cast off.

“Well, Dr. Miller said everything’s looking good, but the swelling needs to come down some more before he’s going to put you in a walking put this time. He’s got it splinted, but he says you really need to stay as still as you can so it doesn’t irritate the compartments again. At least for the rest of today.” Trent explained in easy terms.

“Today? Is it still today? Or is it tomorrow? I mean, is it morning?” Clay asked, confused.

“It’s the day after we landed, bout 0700.” Trent supplied, looking tired.

“You were here all night, weren’t you?” Clay questioned, but he already knew the answer.

“Of course, I was.” Came Trent’s response.

“Hope I didn’t give you too much trouble.” Clay looked down, feeling bad for Trent’s tired look.

“Nope, only trouble was you had so much morphine in you, we couldn’t wake you up. At least you kept breathing, though.” Trent tried to sound perky.

“Yeah, well I guess that’s good.” Clay mumbled back.

“Hey, you’re really sounding better! How is your leg feeling – and before you even open your mouth, it’s the truth I want, and not some bullshit like you gave me yesterday. If something’s not right, you need to speak up.” Trent gave Clay the stink-eye.

‘Yesterday?’ Clay thought back. ‘Oh, with Naima and the kids.’

“It’s… manageable.” Clay responded with.

“Clay? ‘Manageable’ doesn’t tell me anything. Come on, brother, unpack.” Trent wanted the truth.

“Trent, my leg hurts like hell, even though I’m still on morphine, which I can tell because you’re right there but you’re, like really far away. I have a splitting headache, I’m pissing through a tube, and,” Clay pauses to take a deep breath, “and I’m afraid I won’t make it back to the team because this could be career ending and I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens.”

There was silence for a few seconds before Trent started to speak. “I asked Dr. Miller about that earlier, ‘cause I figured that would be on your mind when you had one again, and he said there’s no reason you shouldn’t make a full recovery.”

“Yeah, but what about my little performance yesterday?” Clay asked, cheeks starting to flame.

“Clay, all any of us cared about was how bad you were hurting. Nobody was ashamed of you, or for you, and in fact I’m really goddamned impressed you held it together long enough to not scare the kids.” Trent explained.

“Sorry.” Clay mumbled, looking away.

“Nothing to be sorry for, brother.” Trent said, reassuringly.

“Hey Trent?” Clay looked up and made eye-contact. “Thanks.”

***

Everyone was sitting around in their cages, waiting for the 0800 briefing. Today was Clay’s first day back, and everyone was wondering if he was going to be late.

Sonny was already dressed in his uniform, shifting a few things around in his own cage when he spoke up to the group, “So… where’s Bam Bam? Don’t tell me he’s displaced himself, again.”

“That isn’t funny, Sonny,” retorted the slightly paranoid Trent while he zipped up his kit.

“Has anyone seen him?” Jason asked, looking from each team member.

Everyone was shaking their heads, hoping Clay would be here soon.

“He’d better hurry up.” Ray said. “Brief starts in 15 minutes.

A moment later, there was a beeping at their door and Clay rushed through the door, breezing past everyone and hurrying to his cage. “There was construction on Main and the detour almost got me lost this morning!”

“Well, I wouldn’t have been surprised!” Sonny grinned, shaking his head slowly.

Clay looked up at him as he fumbled with his keys to get it in his cage’s locked. “What that supposed to mean?”

“You’d better hurry.” Warned Ray as he locked his own cage and everyone headed to their briefing room. 

Everyone had just got settled into their chairs when Clay rushing through the door, still tucking his shirt in as he jogged to his place at the table.

“Glad you decided to join us today, Spenser,” Blackburn remarked, with a touch of sarcasm and then proceeded to go over their daily briefing before they would start on their drills.

As everyone started to gather their folders to get ready for the drills, Blackburn spoke up again. “Oh, Clay… I almost forgot. We all got you a little something. Sort of a “welcome back” present.” He smiled warmly as he grabbed a small box off a side table and handed it to Clay.

“Well, thanks,” Clay said, grinning, oblivious to the obvious chuckles and grins of his fellow teammates. “You guys didn’t have to…”

“Ah, yes, we did buddy,” commented Brock.

Clay shot him a curious glance and began to open the present. “What’s this?” he asked, pulling out the red collar with small bells all around it and a large one dangling in the middle. “What’s this for?”

“It’s for you to wear,” informed Jason, with the utmost sincerity. “That way, next time you wander of, we’ll be able to find you a little sooner.” Everyone burst out laughing, except Clay.

“You all are absolutely hilarious!” Clay retorted as the others started to stand and gather their things.

Sonny stood next to Clay, then held out his hand, taking the collar from his brother. “Here, let me help you with this, Rover.”

Clay batted Sonny’s hand away and tossed the collar onto the table. “Oh, very funny. You guys are a regular barrel of laughs!” He deadpanned and started stalking off towards the door.

Sonny shook his head, then picked up the collar and laughed. “Actually, it’s not such a bad idea!” He grinned and started after Clay. “Nope, for you my friend, it’s not a bad idea at all. Get back here.”

Sonny raced out their door and started chasing Clay down the hallway to the laughs of his fellow brothers that wouldn’t allow him to stay lost.


End file.
